Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): summary of NICE guidance

There has been a lack of national guidance and care pathways for primary care on when to offer testing for NAFLD. Investigation and referral of suspected NAFLD vary widely. There is currently no licensed treatment for NAFLD, and most people are managed by their general practitioner with a focus on lifestyle advice such as weight loss.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a spectrum of disease from fatty liver to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. At the least advanced end of the spectrum, non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) is an excess of fat in the liver (steatosis) present in 20-30% of the general population and is largely asymptomatic.1 2 3 4 Currently, diagnosis of NAFLD is most commonly made through incidental findings, such as ultrasonography for investigation of persistently abnormal liver function tests, when other suspected causes have been ruled out.

In around 5-6% of patients with NAFL only the condition progresses to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, or cirrhosis (see fig 1⇓).5 In this small group there is a risk of death from liver failure or hepatocellular carcinoma, or needing a liver transplant.1 The number of hospital admissions for liver damage at the more severe end of the NAFLD spectrum, fibrosis and cirrhosis, are increasing every year.6